Reintroduce historic hemp for Iowa farmers

A look into the various uses for hemp.
Marty Pearl/Louisville Courier Journal

Copies of Hemp magazine are displayed at the Cannabis World Congress Conference on June 16 in New York City. Billed as "the leading trade show and conference for the legalized cannabis, medical marijuana, and industrial hemp industries," the conference brings together dozens of both small and large businesses involved in the growing hemp and marijuana market.(Photo11: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Iowa’s history and modern-day economy are rooted in agriculture. One need only look at the rows of corn and soybean fields from the Missouri River to the Mississippi to witness the scale at which Iowa farmers supply both the nation and the world.

Yet this season, Iowa farmers may face a fourth year of losses. That downturn could contribute to lower state revenues. One solution to averting this economic forecast lies in a crop deeply rooted in Iowa’s history: industrial hemp.

Many Iowa farmers are familiar with hemp, and they likely have seen a few of the plants growing on the family farm. These legacy hemp plants continue to grow throughout the state as the result of hemp “victory crops” grown in Iowa during World War II to support the war effort. Decades later, we are now seeing a resurgence of agricultural and consumer interest in the crop.

Hemp can be used as a third rotational crop or as a cover crop. The plant lends itself to a myriad of production applications, including but not limited to: animal feed, textiles, body care products, cosmetics, plastics, biofuels, and food for human consumption. It is resilient and often drought-resistant, and requires few or no pesticides.

In 2014, Congress included an industrial hemp provision in the Farm Bill, which granted states authorization to “study the growth, cultivation, or marketing of industrial hemp.” Since then, 33 states have passed hemp farming legislation, including our neighbors Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois. This year alone, more than 20,000 acres of hemp were grown by American farmers to begin supplying the U.S. hemp market, the largest consumer market for hemp products in the world, which exceeded $688 million last year. Farmers in Kentucky report average profits of $300 per acre for hemp grain crops.

Iowa needs to pass pro-hemp farming legislation, so that our farmers are not excluded from the profits of this in-demand agricultural commodity.

Tom Shipley(Photo11: Special to the Register)

A bill in the Iowa Senate seeks to do just that. The industrial hemp bill, Senate File 329, would establish a pilot research program, overseen by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, allowing cultivation for a variety of research purposes, including growing the crop for a specific market such as biofuels.

At the federal level, we need Iowa Congressional representatives to support passage of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, H.R. 3530, which would legalize growing hemp for all commercial purposes by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act. The bill has received the support of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Let Iowa’s farmers grow hemp, and we’ll see one of our state’s historic crops play a new role in our agricultural future.